Footage has emerged of Qatar apparently erecting fences to conceal disadvantaged neighborhoods ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Qatar has already been under heavy fire for a number of violations of human rights, such as the mistreatment of migrant labor and the criminalization of LGBT+ individuals.
Officials now seem to be making an effort to conceal the inequalities in some parts of the country.
A car can be seen driving down a road in Qatar with a long wall built up next to it in a video that was uploaded to TikTok and reposted on Reddit.
But when the car approaches, a break in the wall reveals a less wealthy neighborhood.
The wall is still being built and will probably continue to be so in order to close the distance, as can be seen in the video.
The video clip was released less than a month before the FIFA World Cup begins on November 21.
The 64 games in the tournament are expected to draw over a million people, according to FIFA.
Qatar may be aiming to conceal the genuine living conditions of many residents by drawing large numbers of first-time visitors from abroad. Unsurprisingly, the attempt horrified people online.
One remarked sarcastically, saying: “Remember children.. if you don’t see it, it doesn’t exist.”
Another person said: “Yes, spend money on building walls. That’ll help them get out of poverty.”
Brazilian authorities implemented a similar plan to conceal the favelas prior to the 2016 Olympic games, the Telegraph reported at the time.
They built a five-mile long, ten-foot high wall along the highway leading away from the international airport to conceal the underprivileged areas.
Even before it started, the World Cup in Qatar was arguably one of the most contentious in history.
On Thursday, October 27, the Socceroos made history by becoming the first FIFA World Cup team to issue a statement denouncing Qatar’s human rights record.
Line by line, a video message from all 16 players was given, calling out the nation’s bad track record with migrant labor and same-sex couples.
Why is Qatar hiding its Poor Neighborhoods
Nobody knows why Qatar is hiding its impoverished neighborhoods or why anyone would do such a thing.
However, it’s said that such actions take place each time a significant competition is held in a nation.
Brazil virtually always performed the same approach to conceal the favelas, whether it was for the Rio 2016 Olympics or the Rio 2014 World Cup.
Before major events like the Olympics, Super Bowl, World Series, or even, strangely, a Billy Graham crusade, Atlanta either arrested or put all the homeless and transients on buses and drove them out of town.
However, the concept remained the same: conceal it and act as though it doesn’t exist.
#WATCH
— Middle East Monitor (@MiddleEastMnt) July 15, 2022
Qatar World Cup workers dying ‘Invisible deaths’
The families of migrant workers in Qatar have revealed that poor working conditions have resulted in fatal illnesses such as kidney failure likely caused by drinking unsafe water pic.twitter.com/5udsCCiBuW
When will the FIFA World Cup Start?
The FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international men’s football championship played between the senior national teams of FIFA member countries, is set to take place for the 22nd time in 2022.
Qatar will host it from November 20 through December 18, 2022.
After the event in South Korea and Japan in 2002, this will be the second World Cup wholly held in Asia and the first World Cup to ever be contested in the Arab world.
Additionally, the tournament will include 32 teams for the final time; the tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada in 2026 will have 48 teams instead.
